Sharing some perspective on outgoing year 2016 and incoming New Year 2017 with essay and Postered Poetics by Aberjhani.

Somehow I developed an unkind tendency to underestimate at the end of each year the amount of work accomplished during the previous 12 months. I used to like the feeling of being surprised to discover how much really got done, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing at all. It’s just not as fair to the truth, and some of my best go-for-the-gold efforts, as such an assessment should be.

But my New Year 2017 resolutions include a commitment to breaking the self-negation habit. As a practice, it’s just not a helpful one when it comes to planning future projects or establishing once-and-for-all final deadlines for current endeavors. In addition, miscalculating earnestly-applied efforts is unfair to the integrity of the work itself, as well as to those who helped make it happen and give it increased value. Therefore, in honor of the difficult, to paraphrase author Alice Walker, below is a list of links to tributes, essays, and reviews that I managed to share while continuing to work on my current nonfiction book. These are followed by further reflections on the year that was and the year to come.

Ripples of Political Pandemonium

One of the most challenging aspects of accomplishing anything of significance in the year 2016 was remaining focused on priorities. That can be difficult throughout the course of any election year but it was exceptionally so during the 2016 battle for the White House.

The various low-points and dubious tactics that resulted in the United States’ new President-Elect have been chronicled sufficiently enough that they do not need to be repeated here. What does bear re-emphasizing is that not only did the American people elect a new president whose worldwide business empire practically guarantees compromising conflicts of interest. They also chose to endorse standards of conduct likely to create ripples of political pandemonium for years to come (though hopefully and prayerfully––not).

So why is that? Because we cannot sanction free-for-all lawlessness when it suits the purposes of one class or race within a society while constructing billion-dollar prison complexes in which to enslave those for whom such lawlessness has not been deemed appropriate. This is more than a matter of practicing double standards. The issue is recognizing the chaos that can stem from specific choices and, for better or worse, proclaiming ownership to correct the damage incurred.

Video Notes on Barack Obama: Giving an American President His Proper Due

Remembrance and Gratitude

If nonstop political mayhem was not enough to distract many of from reaching targeted goals, other factors played their parts as well. We cannot engage life without periodically, appropriately, pausing to honor those who have passed on before us. Among those who passed in 2016 and prompted me to reflect upon their impact on the world overall and on my life in particular, to name only a few in no special order, were these:

The edits on my current book in progress were close to complete when Hurricane Matthew came to town and rearranged my priorities. President-Elect Donald Trump, at the time still a presidential candidate, contributed his fair share of distractions as well but that’s another blog for another time.

Along with its unexpected destructiveness in my hometown, Hurricane Matthew also delivered a few gifts. One of the most important of those gifts for me was the rediscovery of research materials in the form of notebooks from the 1990s long thought lost in the shuffle of previous relocations. The material turned up while storing and salvaging valuable to keep them safe from the hurricane.

The discovery of the notebooks themselves became part of my account––now included in the previously-noted book-in-progress–– of surviving Matthew. One of those notebooks contains an unvarnished story of the birth of ELEMENTAL, the Power of Illuminated Love. Because of the death of Luther E. Vann, my co-creator on the project, earlier this year, the notebook was a startling find.

Discussing the Possibility

Had he lived, Luther would have turned 79 on December 2, 2016, so it seems appropriate that notebooks and early recorded recitals of poems from ELEMENTAL should have started popping up at this time. The excerpt below is taken from notes dated September 11, 1992, more than a year after I first met the painter and sculptor.

At this point, I had been experimenting with writing poems based on his art but this was our first time discussing the possibility of working on a book together. Also during this period, comparing our developing friendship to the meeting between Jalal al-Din Rumi and Shams Tabrizi helped me visualize the possibility of working with an artist who had been practicing his craft much longer than I had been plying mine.

Detail from "For the Love of the Poet" painting by Luther E. Vann featured in Elemental the Power of Illuminated Love.)

Called Luther around 8 tonight to make an appointment for our interview next week. As with the week before, I found myself extremely nervous about calling but then realized I was allowing silliness to impede our mutual progress. When I did call, he greeted me with uninhibited enthusiasm and all of my reservations vanished in the sudden light of his pleasure.

He took the opportunity to thank me for the poem [“For the Love of the Poet” based on painting with same name] I left him and Sandra last week.

“Man,” he said, “that was really beautiful. I don’t know if Sandra told you or not, but the idea we came up with—because your words seem so spontaneous, from a gut level––was to do a book together. If you can do something that spontaneously for all the pictures in the book, that would be just great.”

I repeated my tired line about my genius not matching his.

“I don’t know about that. Like I said, the poem has a strong spontaneousness and it has that same multidimensional quality as the picture.”

“Well, it really is an extension of the portrait because when I saw it, the words started writing themselves. In fact, all of the pictures and sculpture inspired me so strongly that I just started composing poetry right then and there.” [At an exhibition of his work]

Could it be we were really having this conversation? How many times had I sat or walked or worked while imagining the possibility of the very thing we were now discussing. The first time I saw his work, it seemed the most natural thing in the world that I should compose a poetic commentary to match the images. What astonishes me more than anything else is that he seems to view my work the same way. How can that be?

Whereas in the recent past I’ve allowed myself to indulge in comparisons between my meeting Luther and great historical personalities meeting with the same, lately I’ve tried to refrain from doing that. But there seems to be in it some appropriateness independent of my own speculations. Shem Friedlander wrote of my two favorite Sufis that theirs “was a friendship based on the discovery of God through each other at a time when both beings had a lesson to impart to one another.” I think possibly it would have been more accurate to say that an overwhelming affirmation of God is what Shams and Rumi experienced through their friendship…

Luther has made a psychospiritual transition which I have, in a way, only casually reached for, while I as yet possess a sense of focus and drive (a bit weakened thought it may be) which seems to have atrophied within himself (quite understandably so give his spiritual disposition). Ours is, I believe, meant to be a true and good partnership. [end of excerpt]

Concluding and Beginning Anew

This post concludes with Carol Phelan Aebby’s poem, The Young Poet and the Painter, which is a rare kind of homage to my work with Luther written in the bibliographic profile acrostic form originated by Andre Emmanuel Bendavi ben-YEHU. The poet’s voice captures a lot of the mystery and wonder that many artists experience when striving to honor a difficult but ultimately rewarding task.

As much as we might talk about looking forward to the beginning of one year in order to forget about the atrocities accumulated during the previous 12 months, the truth is that all calendar years bring with them an arsenal of exploding curve balls. They are ready-made to fire off in our individual, or collective, directions at some point before the just-arrived year ends and totally demolish our carefully-designed plans and strategies.

I never expect anything less but am also inclined to hope for better. With all the awareness raised during the last several years to correct gun violence in American communities in general, and as a major cause of death among African Americans in particular, it was not unreasonable to think 2016 might show some significant improvements. It hasn’t.​Mounting death tolls in cities like Chicago and Savannah are one part of the reason 2016 has not proven any more promising than 2015. Accumulating deaths from excessive force used by police, as in the cases of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, NC, and Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is another. Growing interest in Campaign Zero does offer a reason to believe in better possibilities but the best ideas are only as valuable as an individual’s or community’s willingness to commit real time and resources to its application.

​At this point marking three-quarters of the way through the year 2016 and inching ever-closer to the election of a new president in the United States, I feel as if more than the usual number of curve balls have been blazing like meth-infused comets from corner to corner of the global community. From the refugee crisis and the never-ending heartbreak known as Syria to the political uncertainty presented by Brexit and the forthcoming presidential election in the United States, the word volatile seems a fairly good one to describe the current 2016 state of affairs.

The Job Facing Voters in 2016

The Job Facing Voters Postered Poetics quotation art by Aberjhani.

Any number of political pundits have offered theories on why and how Donald Trump was able to secure the Republican nomination for the presidency. Most Americans know it came down to one thing: money.

In the U.S. and elsewhere overflows of cash, stock, and real estate often equate to political clout and social influence. Yet even with that awareness I was among those who found it incomprehensible that millions of people were supporting his bid for the highest office in the land and could actually put him there. What were/are they thinking? That he would revive his Apprentice reality show and invite them on as contestants?​A particularly scary moment came when Mr. Trump’s team received a suggestion that it adopt one of my quotes as a campaign slogan. How was that supposed to work? But whereas one political strategist proposed use of a certain quote to promote the Great Donald, cartoonist Vishavjit Singh adopted a different quote from my work to use in his #SendSikhNoteToTrump campaign. Funny how quotations lend themselves to different interpretations and applications.

And Then There’s Madame Secretary Clinton

Is Hillary Rodham Clinton necessarily a better candidate for the U.S. presidency than Donald Trump? Polls indicate many Americans feel she is the better available option but also imply the best possible choices are currently not on the ballots. Maybe that’s worth thinking about.​Maybe it is also worth considering that, at some point, history is bound to have its say regarding the matter of a woman president in America. How is that Germany, Great Britain (twice now), Australia, Brazil, Liberia, and any number of others all reached that point before the country so frequently proclaimed as the greatest democracy in the world?

Looking at her work as a first lady, senator, and secretary of state, it becomes hard to refute the proposal that Hillary Clinton truly is the better option. President Barack H. Obama spoke more than hyperbolically when he stated during the Democratic convention that her qualifications while running for the presidency surpassed those of both himself and former President Bill Clinton when they ran for the office.​In addition, I have long believed that in order for a democratic republic like the United Sates to have any true right to call itself a democracy, its leaders should reflect the diversity of the population. The glass ceiling blocking women’s path to the White House has to break sometime and right now would probably be an especially good one.

Postered Poetics image of author James Alan McPherson by Aberjhani. From the same hometown of Savannah, Georgia (USA) McPherson's writings had a powerful impact on many fellow writers.

​This coming November 2016 will mark the second anniversary of the dedication of the historical marker for the Carnegie Branch Library in Savannah, Georgia. Moreover, as it now turns out, that dedication also represents one of the city’s more notable acknowledgements of the life, work, and legacy of James Alan McPherson (September 16, 1943 – July 27, 2016). The iron-lettered text for the historical marker concludes as follows:

“…One of only two Carnegie library projects for African Americans in Georgia, this was the home library to James Alan McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning short story writer and essayist and Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.”

​​The story presented below was previously published in my former AXS Entertainment National African Cultural Arts Column. It is shared here in honor of what later this month would have been Mr. McPherson’s 73rd birthday; and, in recognition not only of the role that one particular library played in his life, but in recognition of the immense value libraries around the world continue to contribute to humanity as a whole.

In his remarks on the historical significance of the library, Sen. Jackson noted that one of the reasons his father first moved their family many years ago from Statesboro to Savannah was to gain access to the library. They settled in a house only two blocks away: “He said son, this neighborhood will be an investment in your future. It has a library… Every Saturday morning before I could go out to play, I had to visit this structure…”

Sen. Jackson added the following:

“A hundred years ago, 11 men got together and invested in this community’s future by gathering books. And that’s what this marker here stands for today, an investment those men made in the future of not only young people but everyone. It gave them access to knowledge, it gave them access to history, but most importantly it gave them access to the world… where they could come read books, where they could come collect books, where they could come to understand what was [happening] in the world. And that knowledge is still needed today.”

​The men to whom he was referring established themselves in 1906 as the Colored Library Association of Savannah. With a grant from American industrialist Andrew Carnegie, the group was able to build the unique facility at a cost of $104,041.78 but drew on its own resources and community support to provide operational funds and actual books. Construction of the facility, which stands as the only recognized example of Prairie Style architecture (generally associated with Frank Lloyd Wright) in Savannah, got underway in early 1914. Dedication observances were held for it in August of the same year and construction was completed in 1915.

Harlem Renaissance Connections

​The date of the library’s construction and opening is particularly significant in light of the Harlem Renaissance that would get underway just as World War I drew to a close. Placed in that context, members of the Colored Library Association of Savannah may be rightly viewed as southern counterparts to such historians and bibliophiles as “the father of black history” Carter G. Woodson and scholar Arthur Schomburg. Like New York’s famed Schomburg Center for Black Culture, the Carnegie Branch Library is an exceptional repository of works related to African-American history and culture on local, state, and national levels.

In more recent times, structural damage forced the library to close in 1997. It reopened in August 2004 with a slate of programs that included a lecture and book signing based on Facts on File’s Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. In addition to modern technology resources, the renovated library also featured a new east wing dedicated to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The text of the new historical marker notes the significance of its role in the intellectual development of both Justice Thomas and Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Alan McPherson.

To learn more about the Carnegie Branch Library’s history, it hours or operation, or current programs please call (912) 231-9921 or visit the Live Oaks Public Libraries website.​by Aberjhaniauthor of The River of Winged Dreamsand Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry

Literary and political gadfly Miriam K. Center. (photograph by John Zeuli)

Members of the U.S. Congress rarely make it a point to enter an acknowledgment of a writer’s birthday into the official Congressional Record. Why should they? Writers have birthdays, get stomach aches, laugh through good days, and moan through bad days just everybody else. No big deal.

But author, poet, playwright, and social activist Miriam K. Center is far from typical and U.S. Representative Earl L. “Buddy” Carter felt her 90th birthday, on August 10, was worth officially noting during the second session of the 114th Congress on July 18, 2016 (See complete statement below).

​While I may not see eye-to-eye with Congressman Carter when it comes to political matters (I admit to being challenged that way when it comes to Republicans) I do appreciate his cultural instincts where Miriam K. Center is concerned.

Literary Adventures in 1990s Savannah

Front cover of the novel Scarlett O'Hara Can Go to Hell by Miriam K. Center. (First published in 2000 by Black Skylark Singing Press)

​It was my blessed good fortune to befriend Ms. Center during the mid-1990s in Savannah, Georgia. We shared a lot of good classically-themed literary adventures together, including, as members of the Savannah Writers’ Workshop, organizing and producing the city first literary festival in 1998. Participants on that notable occasion included authors Terry Kay, Rosemary Daniell, Bruce Feiler, Iris Formey Dawson, and Michael Porter.

We were also fortunate to still have with us at the time: the late Margaret Wayt DeBolt (1930-2009), Arthur Gordon (1912-2002), Ja A. Jahannes (1942-2015), and Tom Coffey (1923-2015).

Center also served with Robert Keber, Carolyn Siefferman, and me on the editorial board for the 1999 Savannah Literary Journal. In 2000, I had the honor (some might say “nerve to”) of publishing her boldly-titled maybe-or-maybe-not autobiographical novel Scarlett O’Hara Can Go to Hell as part of the developing Black Skylark Singing imprint. One has to give Rep. Carter kudos for mentioning the book in his birthday acknowledgement and resisting any urge to modify the title:

Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize MiriamK. Center of Savannah, Georgia, for her 90th birthday on August 10th.

At 90 years old, Ms. Center continues to be an impressive member and contributor to the coastal Georgia community.

She graduated from Savannah High School in 1944 and promptly joined the Savannah volunteers to help American troops fighting in World War II. After the war, Miriam married Leo Center and helped him found a prominent, local Savannah business. Miriam and Leo had 3 sons together,Henry, Tony, and Scott.

Since then, Miriam has been greatly involved in public service as sheserved as Chair of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan PlanningCommission, ran for election to the Georgia State Senate, and forSavannah Alderwoman. In 2000, she wrote a book entitled Scarlett O'Hara Can Go to Hell and produced the currently showing play, Johnny and Me, which chronicles her friendship with Savannah's Academy Award winning songwriter, Johnny Mercer. She is also a frequent guest writer to the Savannah Morning News.

Miriam has traveled the world, visiting England, France, Spain,Greece, Israel, Russia, and much of North America.​ Ms. Center, I hope you have a happy 90th birthday. (2nd Session of 114th Congress)

​Knowing Ms. Center, and barring any unforeseen extraordinary occurrences, she will not only have a happy 90th birthday but an outright party-thumping blast of a celebration.

Having shared as many cultural escapades with the author as I have, she’s bound to make one or two guest appearances in the pages of my current book-in-progress. More than likely they will take place in the sections dealing with my days of working as a bookseller when John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil made him a bestselling author and encouraged people in Savannah extend general interpretations of the word “nutty.”

Johnny Mercer and Miriam

Given all that Center has accomplished up to this point, it’s not surprising that her play Johnny Mercer and Me is currently slated to open September 22 at Savannah’s stately Lucas Theatre. Part of the proceeds from the ticket sales will go toward helping preserve and maintain the theatre.